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| An upscaled version of the spinner mouse trap. I have this in an area with many chipmunks. Chipmunks are an alternate host for ticks. The spinner is a couple of Mountain Dew bottles with the bottoms cut out, nested and glued. The mouths were greased with Crisco and baited with PB. No catches yet. |
I made a list of Things To Do for today.
I only got 2.3 of them done.
I went for a run. Mrs ERJ is a member of a gym in Charlotte which is about 10 miles west of here. I asked if I could join her. She was agreeable.
While she did her weight-lifting inside, I ran around the building. I knocked out about 2 miles in about 22 minutes. Then, knowing Mrs ERJ would be busy for a bit longer, I walked around the building interspersing 100 yard sprints with 200 yard walks.
That last part took a lot out of me. It uses muscles that are very different than my jogging muscles.
Side note: One of my readers asked if I had ever used a heart rate monitor.
I did. When I first started running (15 years ago) I was concerned that I wasn't pushing hard enough. Different sources have different target heart-rates. Based on one formula, the age-appropriate bpm target for me was 165 bpm.
I strapped up and started running. I didn't think to look at the monitor until I had run a quarter mile. Looking at the handy-dandy wristwatch readout, I saw I was clocking 177 bpm.
Millions and millions of words have been written about target heart rates and the most effective targets to gain condition. Proponents of the lower bpm rates suggest that your heart cannot pump efficiently if you are over-clocking. They suggest that if your heart cannot fill, then your heart cannot pump efficiently and the muscles are flailing rather than working.
I remain unconvinced about a single number, based on age, that is a universal fit.
What I learned about MY body was that I didn't have to lean very hard into the discomfort zone before I was well above the target.
Since then I run by comfort level. As long as I recently deballasted waste product, am adequately hydrated, had my 81mg aspirin running 10-to-12 minute miles is as comfortable as walking.
End side note
After getting home and having a bite to eat...I closed my eyes for a second.
Then I put the fence around the fall-vegetable garden. The rabbits found the Chinese Cabbage. The mosquitoes were bad.
The 0.3 part of the things-to-do involved some preliminary work to installing Mrs ERJ's back-up camera.
Miscellaneous information
This chart shows the recommended impact velocities for assorted Hornady XTP pistol bullets.
This is valuable information when combined with an external ballistics calculator. For instance, a 158 grain, Flat Point XTP .357 has a recommended impact velocity of 1200 fps to 1800 fps. If launched at 1900 fps, it loses 100 fps in the first 25 yards. The ballistics calculator then suggests that the FP bullet is within its design envelop for impact velocities from 25 yards out to 150 yards.
Run that sucker through a resizing die to get it down to .355 inches and you have a fine bullet for the .350 Legend as long as you dial down the velocities a few hundred fps below maximum.
And for those ten yard shots? Stay out of the shoulder (and the larger cuts of edible meat) and you will take home venison.
Unlike the purpose designed bullets for the .350 Legend, you can still find the 158 FP XTPs if you hunt around.
I use a 5 gallon bucket filled 2/3 with water and two handfuls of sunflower seeds. Lay a 1"x3"across the top and a another leaned up against it so that they can climb up. I do this early in the season as after 4 or 5 days I pour the soggy seeds in a trench next to my fence. I usually get 2 to 4 drowned chipmunks a day for about a week. When it drops to one a week I put it up for a month and hit it again. I have had it out for two weeks now without a hit. I also haven't seen any chipmunks.
ReplyDeleteThe side effect is I have a lot of sunflowers growing on my fence row.
Mice will jump over 1 glue tap, so I use 2 glue traps (for rats) behind the refridgerator. Anywhere that has a gauntlet can be a trap setup. In theory, they're supposed to suffocate and die, but I have to hit them with a hammer.
ReplyDeleteAlso experimenting with a lethal snap trap for chipmunks and squirrels. Have to get back to you.
Also employ a product called Thermocell Tick Control Tubes. They involve TP sized paper tubes with treated cotton inside. The chemical sterilizes the ticks. Seems like the batch I bought this year also claimed to simply kill them. The rodents use the cotton for nesting material bringing it in contact with the ticks. They say it takes four seasonal cycles or two years (spring, autumn, repeat). Unscientific but we are seeing fewer after two distributions.
ReplyDelete